4 ms·
The graph I think you're pointing to is about "suicide by firearm", not "suicide rates" in general. Of course with fewer guns people will choose other methods.
by akvadrako 6y ago
The graph I think you're pointing to is about "suicide by firearm", not "suicide rates" in general.
Of course with fewer guns people will choose other methods.
- chmod775 6y agoI meant to point to the paragraph next to it: > (ii) firearms are also strongly related to overall suicides – despite evidence for substantial substitution in method of suicide;
- James_Henry 6y agoPerhaps the paper the graph is taken from would be helpful? https://mason.gmu.edu/~atabarro/BriggsTabarrokFirearmsSuicide.pdf https://mason.gmu.edu/~atabarro/BriggsTabarrokFirearmsSuicid... They go through several different models and their findings that gun ownership is associated with suicide in the US seem rather robust. There is a lot more to suicide of course: divorce, depression, alcohol use and more.
- roenxi 6y ago> their findings that gun ownership is associated with suicide in the US seem rather robust. Robust is a strong word for that finding. I haven't read the paper extremely closely but page 13 suggests they have a 16 variable linear factor regression for 150 observations. With that sort of model a small but statistically detectable correlation isn't the sort of result that ends arguments. Realistically it should be discarded out of hand as a evidence for any sort of action; the effect is too small and there are too many ways that result could be misleading for both practical and statistical reasons.